Since 1826, when the first school opened in
Galena, parents have sought excellence in their public and private
educational systems. This mandate continues and is satisfied by Galena
Unit School District 120 and four parochial and private schools in the
community. In addition, there are preschools and daycare centers in the
area.

District 120 operates three schools, Galena
Primary, Galena Middle, and Galena High School. All three share one
large campus.

Galena Primary School stands around a corner
from the other two schools and houses kindergarten through the fourth
grade, plus two early childhood programs. The curriculum focuses on
language arts and mathematics, augmented by physical education, art,
vocal music, social studies, science, health, current events, and
computer. Approximately 365 students are enrolled in the school and
many of their parents are actively involved. Some 20 to 30 serve as
weekly volunteers while others are members of the PTK (Parents and
Teachers for Kids), an advisory and support group.

Galena Middle School houses fifth through
eighth grades and is recognized by the state as one of 27 lead middle
schools in Illinois. It continues emphasis on teaching the basics, but
guides students through the transition from a highly structured
elementary school to the academic specialization and personal
responsibility associated with high school.

Galena High School has an enrollment of more
than 300 students who choose from more than 80 courses of study,
including advanced placement courses in English and calculus. These
provide opportunities to earn college credit while still in high
school. Four years of Spanish is also in the high school curriculum.

Eight courses train students for positions
in business. Junior and seniors can enroll in 17 career oriented
courses at the Jo Daviess Carroll Area Vocational Center, in Elizabeth,
attending classes half-days at the center and the balance at Galena
High. Career courses include agriculture supply and service, automotive
service, commercial art, graphic communications, accounting, office
procedures, pre-engineering, and others.

The school also offers a full range of
special education courses for students who are developmentally
disabled.

Galena High encourages students to
participate in several extracurricular clubs and organizations, among
them band, chorus, and drama. Sports teams compete in a full roster of
sport teams for boys and girls.

Galena's proximity to Dubuque, Iowa, a
distance of only 15 miles, gives students and adults easy access to two
topnotch colleges and a university. An excellent two-year community
college is located in Freeport, IL, about 40 miles east of Galena.

Highland Community College is set on 210
acres at the western edge of Freeport. Highland offers career and
community education, vocational preparation, and comprehensive
associate degree transfer programs in arts and science. The college has
a diverse student population with an average age of 33. More than 4,000
students attend the college each semester. Students attend classes at
the main campus, a downtown center, and at various sites throughout the
district. One such site is at the Galena Arts and Recreation Center.

Some 1,790 students are enrolled in classes
at Loras College, in Dubuque. An independent, coeducational, liberal
arts college, Loras confers Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science,
Bachelor of Music; Master of Arts in Education, English, Physical
Education, Psychology, and Theology; Master of Ministry in Pastoral
Studies and Religious Education; Associate of Arts, and Associate of
Science degrees.

Dubuque's Clarke College occupies a 55-acre
campus on a wooded bluff overlooking the city and the Mississippi
River. Some 1,160 students attend classes on the campus. Clarke confers
Associate of Arts, Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science, Bachelor of
Science in Nursing, Bachelor of Fine Arts, Master of Arts in Education,
and Master of Science in Physical Therapy degrees in 24 majors.

The University of Dubuque has a student
enrollment of 1,100 young men and women. Founded as a private,
coeducational, liberal arts university and theological seminary in
1852, the university offers more than 30 majors in the Schools of
Business, Liberal Arts, Professional Programs, and the UD Theological
Seminary. Through its membership in the Tri-College Cooperative,
University of Dubuque students can take courses at both Clarke and
Loras Colleges.

The nearest state university to Galena is
the University of Wisconsin-Plattville, in Platteville, WI, about 20
miles north of the city. Rockford College, in Rockford, awards bachelor
degrees in nearly 50 majors in Arts, Fine Arts, Science, and Science in
nursing. At its Rockford Education Center, Northern Illinois University
offers about 35 courses in Business, Education, Engineering and
Engineering Technology, Health and Human Sciences, and Liberal Arts and
Sciences. Highly skilled physicians are training at the University of
Illinois College of Medicine at Rockford.

Of course, the famed universities in Chicago
are also available to Galena students. Among these are the University
of Illinois-Chicago, the University of Chicago, Northwestern
University, Loyola University, and DePaul University.

Walk the narrow sidewalks of downtown Galena
and experience a rich past brought up to date. Here, in carefully
preserved buildings from the middle decades of the nineteenth century,
are sophisticated boutiques, craft and gift shops, antique stores, art
galleries, clothiers, florists, jewelers, cozy restaurants, a winery,
immaculate bed and breakfasts, restored hotels, and the occasional
professional service. The full flavor of Galena is represented and that
flavor is fun.

One million visitors a year come to Galena
to view its history and to browse the mile of shops that line both
sides of the city's historic Main Street. One-way traffic moves slowly
down the narrow street, looking for parking or just looking. Display
windows of shops are filled with the finest array of goods available,
appealing to the tastes of visitors and enriching the community.
Galena's shops and stores rack up more than $60 million in sales
annually. The city's share of sales taxes currently adds over $600,000
to its coffers each year.

Old-time Galenians miss some aspects of
downtown that have departed as the trendy stores increased in number.
But these are now found in places like Galena Square, a modern shopping
center on the city's west side. Here, in 10 stores and a major food
market, residents can buy most of their needs. A new and expanding
motor inn adjoins this shopping complex and there's also a popular fast
food restaurant. Elsewhere along U.S. Highway 20 are more commercial
outlets and family restaurants.

Galena's proximity to Dubuque, Iowa, opens
its big city shopping centers, restaurants, and attractions to
Galenians and visitors, as well.

Its lead mining successes long past, the
Galena area's economy is currently driven by tourism. But Galena
leaders recognize the capriciousness of tourism and seek to balance it
with new business and industry.

The city is not well known for its industry,
but it does have at least one familiar corporate name. The Micro-Switch
Division of Honeywell has facilities in the 65-acre Galena Industrial
Park, on the city's northwest side. The industrial park has all
utilities in place.

The Galena Square Commercial Center is a
25-acre commercial development containing 70,000 square feet of space,
with another 25,000 square feet in the planning. It is designed for
retail and service businesses and has both commercial lots and rental
space available.

Jo Daviess Development, Inc., is a
not-for-profit county-wide development corporation organized to
facilitate economic development in the county. It offers a wide range
of services to business and industry considering relocating to the
county. Among these services are site location assistance, listing of
available building and build sites; information on local, state, and
federal economic development programs such as grants, loans, tax
abatements, job training, and others; and low interest gap financing
through a revolving loan fund.

The Community Development Fund of Galena,
Inc., assists prospective businesses in locating appropriate sites. It
has purchased and held property until a project is ready to proceed. It
facilitates development efforts by serving as liaison between various
groups. And, it oversees a revolving economic load fund which issues
small loans at low interest rates to new expanding businesses and
nonprofit organizations.

Galena has set its sights on attracting
businesses that will round out the community and enhance its employment
opportunities. Among the businesses being sought are small
manufacturing or assembly operations, telecommunications, professional
services, electronic sales and service, focused retail specialization
in the downtown area, and a movie theater.

Agriculture has long played an important
role in the economy of Galena and Jo Daviess County and continues to do
so. The county has some 1,015 farms encompassing more than 290,400
acres of land. The average farm size is more than 300 acres. Total crop
land is 220,240 acres and total crop cash receipts run about $9,360,000
annually. Cash receipts from all livestock and products amounts to
about $63,370,000 annually. Corn, hay, oats, soybeans, and wheat are
the principal crops, with corn in first position with more than
11,000,000 bushels produced annually.

Galenians have speedy access to quality
medical care at an in-town hospital when needed.

Galena-Stauss Hospital has 25 acute care
beds and operates a 24-hour emergency service. Three physicians and a
physician's assistant serve on its medical staff. They are officed in
the Galena Medical Associates Clinic that adjoins the hospital. Sixteen
more physicians have consulting privileges at the hospital.

The Galena hospital offers obstetrics, lab,
x-ray, ultrasound, cardiac rehabilitation, and physical and speech
therapies. Orthopedic and urology clinics are held each month,
conducted by specialists from hospitals in Dubuque.

Two hospitals in Dubuque assure that
residents of the Galena area have access to state-of-the-art medical
attention. Mercy Health Center is a 415-bed medical center with
campuses in Dubuque and Dyersville, Iowa. Mercy has a medical staff of
231 and employs a staff of some 1,400 medical professionals and other
workers. Its medical services include general medical, neurology,
oncology, intensive care, pediatrics, a birth center with neonatal
intensive care, a sleep disorders lab, radiology, and respiratory care.
Its radiology department offers CT scans, vascular radiology,
mammography, nuclear medicine, and general radiology procedures.

Dubuque's Finley Hospital is a 158-bed
facility with more than 800 full- and part-time employees. Among its
variety of medical services is a 24-hour emergency room with air
ambulance. A 10-bed Intensive Care Unit is geared toward minimizing
patient anxiety and providing comprehensive intensive health care.
Convenient Care is a drop-in urgent care center located at the hospital
that provides after hours medical care for minor injuries and
illnesses.

Finley Business Health helps businesses of
all sizes with their occupational health needs. All services are
customized to meet the specific needs.

Galena-Stauss Medical Center houses a 60-bed
long-term skilled nursing home. In addition, nine other quality nursing
homes are located in the Galena area. There are eight retirement
centers in the area, as well.

Galenians enjoy the best of two worlds, the
responsiveness of elected officials, and the professional management
skills of a career administrator. The city operates under a
mayor-council form of government. The council appoints a professional
city administrator to oversee the day-to-day operations of government
and to carry out council mandates.

All of Jo Daviess County is covered by an
enhanced 911 emergency dialing system for police, fire, and emergency
assistance.The Galena Police Department is headquartered in the City
Hall on Main Street in the downtown area. The department has nine sworn
officers and a civilian staff of two. Officers promote the national
D.A.R.E anti-drug program in the schools and sponsor the American Youth
Council's Safety Program and the annual Bicycle Rodeo. Officers are
assigned to summertime bicycle patrols that cover the downtown business
district as well as residential areas. Security of residents and
visitors is a prime concern of the department.

The Galena Fire Department has 31
paid-on-call volunteer firefighters who maintain a Class 5 fire
insurance rating for the city. Firefighters operate out of one
firehouse located on Bench Street, one block up the hill from Main
Street.

The station houses a 1,250-gallon-per-minute
pumper, a 95-foot aerial platform, a rescue vehicle, and a 350-gallon
mini-pumper. As part of a Rural Fire District that serves Vinegar, West
Galena, and Rice Townships, the firehouse also holds a
750-gallon-per-minute rural pumper and a tanker carrying 2,100 gallons
of water.

Ambulance services is provided by Emergency
Medical Services - Galena, which has 37 state-certified Emergency
Medical Technicians who operate two I-level ambulances 24 hours a day,
365 days a year.

Galena is the seat of government for Jo
Daviess County. Government offices are divided between a building on
Galena's Bench Street and a facility on U.S. 20 on the city's west
side.

The Sheriff's Department has 29 full-time
officers who utilize such programs as McGruff, bicycle safety, Stranger
Danger, D.A.R.E., Neighborhood Watch, and the Jo Daviess County Youth
Wellness Conference to serve and protect.

The city provides its own water from two
wells and three towers. It has a storage capacity of 1,550,000 gallons
and a water plant with a design capacity of 3,880,000 gallons. Average
daily consumption is only 750,000 gallons. Waste water treatment is
also a city service. Solid waste disposal is handled by a private firm,
however, the city offers curbside recycling with two pickups each
month.

Galena is served by two electric power
companies: Interstate Power Company and Commonwealth Edison.
Member-owned Jo-Carroll Electric Cooperative services 5,000
residential, farm, business, and industrial members in Jo Daviess and
Carroll Counties.Northern Illinois Gas Company provides the city with
natural gas. Telephone services is provided by Ameritech and GTE.